Identification of acupuncture-specific proteins in the process of electro-acupuncture after spinal cord injury

Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a serious condition often affecting young and healthy individuals around the world. Electro-acupuncture (EA) has been proven to contribute towards neurologic and functional recoveries in SCI, but the underlying mechanism remains largely unknown especially regarding neural specific proteins involved in the development of EA. The protein expression profile of spinal cord in both SCI and EA treatment models was analyzed by using two-dimensional electrophoresis-based proteomics. Using a MALDI-TOF/TOF MS and subsequent protein database searching, we identified changes in 15 proteins in the spinal cord following Governor Vessel (GV) EA treatment on SCI. These proteins are involved in inflammation, cell adhesion and migration, signal transduction and apoptosis processes. We selected 2 proteins (ANXA5 and CRMP2) beneficial to neuronal survival and axonal regeneration, and further identified these protein changes using Western blot analysis. Subsequently, Nissl staining and immunofluorescence double labeling approaches were used to explore possible role of the two neural specific proteins in the process of GV-EA treatment on SCI. Our results suggest that ANXA5 and CRMP2 may be neural specific proteins in the process of GV-EA treatment on SCI. This work might contribute to the better understanding of the mechanism involved in EA treatment on SCI at protein levels and provide a new therapeutic strategy for SCI.